Broken Bonds
by broomstick flyer
Summary: Harry is not happy about the adult responce to the Dementor attack in Little whinging. His letter to the order at Grimmauld place has some unforseen consequences some of which turn out quite good for both Harry and Hermione.
1. Chapter 1

7

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

Chapter one

Broken Bonds

Harry James Potter paced the four steps forward and then the four steps back, the only space he had in this tiny dingy bedroom that was filled with his cousin's junk. He hated number four Privet drive and those that lived there. This summer had to have been one of his worst yet, he had no idea what was going on in the world of magic where he was a famous wizard.

His thoughts were filled with anger and despair since he had saved his cousin from two evil Dementors that had attempted to kill both Dudley and himself a couple of days earlier. Harry's anger was caused by several things and fuelled by the lack of contact with anyone who could or would tell him what was going on. He was feeling even more isolated and alone than he had at any other time in his life.

But what was at the root of his anger was the fact that Hermione Granger was with Ronald Weasley somewhere. That Hermione was with his supposed best mate was what really got to him. He had only recently admitted to him self that he wanted to be with Hermione, that he was beginning to have really deep feelings for her and he had not had a letter from her all summer. If Harry faced the truth he knew he was being unjustly jealous considering she had no idea how he felt about her. When total lack of knowledge about where they were or what they were doing was added to the way he had been ignored by everyone since saving Dudley it was making him extremely angry with the entire magical world. When Harry thought about Dumbledore the one who had sent him here to once again be a prisoner of his abusive relatives, also completely ignoring him, his anger got out of control.

It had been three and a half days since he had been told to stay in the house and not go out at all. Three and a half days since he saved his cousin and received those stupid notes telling him not to do anything stupid. Not once did he receive a letter asking if he was ok, or if he had been hurt in the Dementor attack. Nothing from Hermione or his so called best mate Ron, not even one of their worthless notes that said nothing.

Harry suddenly stopped his pacing '_Why the hell should I do as they tell me if they don't bloody care about how I am_?' he asked himself as he looked down at his school trunk. It was still packed with almost all his belongings, being locked up in this room for the summer meant there was no real reason to unpack it.

He made his decision quickly and opened the trunk; he took out some parchment, ink and a quill and then sat on his bed to write a letter.

_To my chief jailor Dumbledore._

_I have decided that as not one of you gives a damn about whether I am ok after the little visit from the Dementors. That all I got was a bunch of notes telling me off like I was a naughty kid for using magic to save mine and Dudley's lives. That not one of my so called friends could be bothered to even write me a letter this summer, makes it obvious to me that I have no reason to associate with a world in which I have no ties, therefore take this as my resignation from Hogwarts and all things magical. _

_Do not bother sending someone to collect me or try to do so your self, I have no time for your endless prattle as I know your grandfather image is a load of bull. This is to inform you 'your puppet' has cut its strings. I have informed you, every year how I am treated here and you take no notice of me. Well no more will I allow this to go on, the beatings and starvation have reached their end for this guy. I am no longer interested in your pathetic world of lies where I get treated like a prisoner and put up with getting beaten, starved and isolated. See you around some day if it can't be avoided. Bye._

_Prisoner Potter, from the cupboard under the stairs._

_PS, Tell Miss Granger I love her very much and hope she has a happy life with the Weasley git… _

Harry folded the anger fuelled letter and asked his first and most loyal friend to deliver it to someone at the headquarters Dumbledore's note had mentioned, where ever that was, then find him in a couple of weeks. Hedwig his owl stood and waited patiently for him to fasten the letter to her leg before stretching her large wings and launching her self out of the window and into the bright sunny sky.

After watching Hedwig fly off into the distance Harry grabbed the tatty old backpack that was mixed in with Dudley's junk and placed his few treasured possessions in it. Wrapped in his invisibility cloak Harry said goodbye to the house where he was treated like a slave and walked passed his jailor who was on the lawn passed out, and from the smell obviously drunk, and on down the street. He had decided that he no longer wanted anything to do with his now old life. Magic, Hogwarts, his so called best friends, his godfather who had wrote him a letter telling him to behave himself as though he had been a naughty kid instead of saying well done in saving Dudley, and Dumbledore who thought he was so almighty and all knowing, he had the right to keep him locked up, telling him where he could go or what he could do, who he could talk to. Well he would take no more he would live his life as he saw fit.

Like so many other angry teens before him he decided he could get by on his own. His only destination was a visit to see the sea and stand on the sand as the tide changed, it was something he had always wanted to do the most next to having a family and he was going to let nothing stop him from doing it.

Two hours later Hermione Granger took the letter from Hedwig and watched her as she flew back out of the window without waiting for a drink or a treat. She was thinking Hedwig's behaviour was a little unusual as she opened the letter but those thoughts vanished as she read the angry words from her best friend.

As she read the sixteen year old witch realised something not one person she knew had even given thought of before. Harry James Potter was an almost sixteen year old boy, who like everyone else had 'feelings' and could be hurt by those who were supposed to look after, love, and protect him. Just like everyone else he needed some amount of support, love, and trust, in his life to allow him to grow up and learn as a normal person. She also saw in his words the deep betrayal he felt, he was not the emotionless hero written about in so many books. She and his other friends should have thought about that a long time before things got so out of hand.

That Harry could be in love with her had never even entered her mind before and a wave of sadness and loss washed over her. Like every one else she had been enjoying the summer spent here with her other friends and had obeyed Dumbledore and ignored the boy she owed her very life too. She felt sick in her stomach when she thought about what it would look like to the boy she was falling in love with, she had not sent him one single individual letter all summer because the headmaster told her not to, and she hated herself for listening to the headmaster.

Sirius was sitting in the kitchen of twelve Grimmauld place enjoying a chat with several of his friends when Hermione with tears streaming down her face handed him a letter. His comment of "Oh shit," got the attention of everyone in the kitchen.

"Bad news?" asked Remus Lupin as he sat forward a little.

"Well first, like all Potters Harry has fallen in love while still at school," he said looking at Hermione. Seeing the puzzled look she gave him he sighed deeply then explained. "It's a Potter trait that goes back centuries, Potter men always find their one true love while still young, James found Lily when he was twelve though it took him quite some time to finally date her. James father was fifteen just like Harry is. I should have realised when I saw how you two were together when you came to my rescue, but…"

Remus Lupin looked up at Hermione "So you are the one, I thought so," he then looked back at Sirius "that's not exactly bad news."

"No Moony that was the better news. The bad news is we let Harry down again. He's gone and I can't blame him at all," was all Sirius said as he handed the letter to his best friend.

Lupin read the letter and then looked at Hermione and Ron giving them both a look of disgust. "Was it so hard to write to him via the muggle post, to much trouble to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule of enjoying your selves to write a letter about simple ordinary day to day things that have nothing to do with keeping secrets? We best get in touch with Dumbledore, somehow I don't think his next stupid idea of how to get Harry here will be needed anymore."

Ronald Weasley was, as was his normal, jealous, annoyed and angry, "So bloody Potter wants what's mine again, I'm bloody sick of him getting every thing. Hermione belongs to me not the bloody boy who bloody lived."

Hermione was shocked at both Ron and when Sirius suddenly turned angry and jumped from his chair and with one hand yanked Ron into the air by his lapels. "Ronald Weasley if you don't keep your bloody stupid mouth shut I'll lock you up in one of the bloody cupboards with no food for a bloody week and see how you like it. A slimy thing like you will never be bloody man enough to claim a woman like Hermione you bloody whining brainless little worm." He gave the boy a look of utter loathing before he dropped him back on to his feet.

Molly Weasley, Ron's mother started yelling about the way Sirius was treating her children when she came to a sudden stop as her only daughter shouted in her face. "Mother SHUT UP, you're the bloody reason my brother is so bloody disgusting, stupid, and ignorant. There is abso - bloody - lutely no one at Hogwarts that can stand the filthy, bad mannered smelly bloody thick head; when Harry and Hermione are not around he's always mouthing off about how good Harry has everything, even when he knows it's all rubbish. He's nothing more than a lousy jealous git who deserves a bloody good hiding and you just keep on bloody pampering him, letting him eat like some greedy wild animal and making people who see him eat feel sick at the sight. He's bloody bone idle, disgusting, doesn't bathe near enough and it's time you woke up to the facts, you gave birth to a hated moron. Only Harry will put up with the git. He makes us all ashamed to be his family."

Everyone in the kitchen stared at the young red haired girl as she ranted at her mother. As Molly opened her mouth to yell at Ginny, George stepped in front of his sister and faced his mother. "Before you bother to say anything to Ginny, she's right, that's why Bill, Charlie, and Percy, escaped from you. You treat us all like little babies and apart from brain dead there, all of us have managed to over come your smothering ways. Everything Ginny said is true; I don't know how Harry and Hermione put up with the jerk because no one else would. And he's bloody delusionaly insane too if he thinks Hermione belongs to him, like he's delusional about how he thinks the world owes him and he doesn't have to work for anything, that everything should all be handed to him on a bloody plate as if it is his right."

As an astonished Molly looked around the room she could see the truth of her children's words in all the faces she looked at, whether she liked it or not her youngest son had turned into someone that was disliked by nearly all those who knew him, including his siblings. She was brought from her thoughts when she heard a female squeak then loud smack and then a thud as Ron dropped onto the floor out to the world.

A very angry Hermione was standing over the boy who had taken the distraction caused by his sister to grope her, she was holding her right fist in her left hand. She was actually glowing with magic as her anger at Ron had finally reached breaking point. Something inside her had snapped and the amount of magic coming from her was more than anyone in the room had ever seen from someone so young. "I think I might have broken my knuckles," she said as she scowled at the red head on the floor. "When that wakes up will someone tell it to stay the hell away from me or next time it gropes my bust it wont be its jaw I break, I'll make damn sure there will never be any little Weasleys coming from its family jewels. I'd rather be dead than be with that piece of disgusting bigoted smelly filth."

Hermione then sank slowly into a chair and let Remus heal her hand while a very subdued Molly had to take the unconscious Ron to St Mungo's to get his broken jaw treated. "So professor you think Harry really does love me, that I'm his true love?" she asked hopefully as he finished healing her broken knuckles.

"Yes Hermione, from what I saw between you two, I do, and I think you are the only one who will know how to find him, though it might take a while for him to forgive you for what he might see as you and Ron betraying him. Eventually he will blame the person who is the real culprit. Dumbledore made a huge mistake again. It was wrong to isolate Harry and keep you from writing to him while he was feeling guilty about Cedric and everything, and it was completely stupid to break up the perfect team that is Harry and Hermione." Remus said anger rising in his voice when he spoke of Dumbledore.

Moments later as though he had heard his name being used Dumbledore appeared in the kitchen doorway, he was standing there only a few seconds before he was suddenly flying backward out of the door, with Hermione chasing after him, her wand pointing at him and a small wisp of smoke drifting up from the singed tip of her wand from the anger powered spell that had left her wand slightly hotter than it should be. What ever it was that had snapped inside her had released a tremendous amount of magic from her magical core.

Albus Dumbledore lay on the floor looking up at the wand that was glowing with a blue incandescent light just an inch from the tip of his nose, the look of fear on his face surprised the flood of people who came rushing from the kitchen.

"Don't do it Hermione, the fool is not worth it," Sirius said as he moved forward slowly.

"Sirius you know from that letter that this thing knew all the time how the Dursleys treat my Harry. The old bastard thinks he's so much better than everyone else that they should do exactly as he tells them too. Well I've got some news for the old prat, if he so much as even thinks of trying to control my Harry's future again he'll have me to answer too, and I won't be the same as all you lot, worshiping at this evil old mans feet like he is some sort of god." Hermione said still glaring at Dumbledore. "Dumbledore, stay away from my man; he has enough to deal with, with Voldemort without another dark lord bastard like you trying to hurt him, if you don't I will guarantee you, you will get to see your next great adventure well before you want to do so."

The look of total surprise and hurt on Dumbledore's face made Hermione laugh derisively "What headmaster you don't think that trying to control every aspect of someone's life and doing nothing about the hell that you force on them is dark? Well let me tell you, stealing someone's freedom, taking away their choice about how to live their life makes you far worse than Voldemort, at least he just kills his victims quickly, not like you, doing it slowly by first destroying the ability to think for them selves. My Harry is not your personal bloody slave. YOU ARE NOT GOD! YOU'RE A DOWNRIGHT EVIL OLD MAN AND YOUR GREATER GOOD IS JUST A LOAD OF HIPOGRIFF DUNG!"

Dumbledore was shaking, not with fear from Hermione but from the fear that he was indeed turning dark. The more he thought about all the things that had happened to young Harry that he could have done something about and yet did nothing, the more he was feeling ill. As he watched the wand tip and knew the young woman on the other end meant every word she had said he was filled with regret, but regret won't stop an angry and extraordinarily powerful witch like Hermione Jane Granger, with his eyes on her still glowing wand he hoped she could let her anger subside without doing him a serious amount of damage that he was in no position to prevent at that moment.

The very angry Hermione turned to walk away but after just two steps she spun around and the world turned black for the headmaster as Hermione lost the little hold she had on her temper and stunned him with a very powerful spell. While every one left in the hallway fussed over the headmaster trying to revive him before taking him into the kitchen, Hermione made her way up to her room. She had a problem to solve and she needed some peace and quiet to do what was needed. Lying down on her bed she used her amazing eidetic memory and her unbelievable mental abilities to run through every conversation she had ever had with Harry since the day they first met. Had anyone been able to see how her mind worked they would have seen memories flash through like a film on fast forward at a speed many times faster than normal time. Memories of a full day taking just a few minutes for her to see, hear, and understand all that had happened that day in full detail. Her ability to separate and inspect only the relevant parts of her memory was amazing.

Even when Hermione fell asleep part of her mind searched through her memories looking for something that would tell her where her Harry might have run off too.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

7

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

A/Note, This is where things start to get a little odd, or at least a little more odd than the first chapter. Hope you continue reading.

Chapter two

Down in the kitchen Sirius and Remus with occasional input from other order of the phoenix members were telling a revived Albus Dumbledore what had happened and why Miss Hermione Granger had attacked him. The fact that she had discovered the truth about Harry's life at his aunts' house and he was the one responsible, followed by the stupidity of Ron had made her furious. Auror Tonks comment that the old man was lucky she had only stunned him caused a ripple of laughter to flow around the room before Ginny Weasley put an end to it by saying "Hermione was right though, the way Harry has been treated is criminal and those that have facilitated his torture and imprisonment are worse than V… Voldemort, and that includes you lot."

Dumbledore looked horrified when everyone looked at him with a look of dislike or maybe even hate as soon as she finished speaking. "Am I truly so bad? I only did it for the greater good." He asked the room at large.

It was Fred Weasley twin of George that spoke up next, "What use is your greater good if it is just one senile old mans opinion of what the greater good is? The true greater good is what every man woman and child decides it is. Not some lone self appointed dictator like you. What right have you got to decide my future and how it should be eh?"

It did not take someone of Dumbledore's intelligence to know that everyone in the room agreed with Fred and Dumbledore began to doubt himself for the first time in more than a hundred years. He could see the truth that he had no right what so ever to decide what Fred Weasley's future should be, and if that was true then what right did he have to decide what Harry's future should be, whether there was a prophecy or not. But then once again he decided that he knew more than anyone in the room so his ideas had to be right. He had the greater good of the rest of the wizarding world as he saw it to consider. How else was the name Albus Dumbledore supposed to become eternally famous like Merlin if the world he, the great Albus Dumbledore, had helped to design and form for the past century was changed by Harry Potter and the muggleborns doing away with the old traditions.

Shaking a little Dumbledore nodded slightly to Fred before changing the subject and asking Sirius why Miss Granger was calling young Mr Potter 'Her Harry'.

Sirius laughed a little "I don't think she actually realised she had said that, but I'll tell you now, anyone who gets between her and Harry will need to be really careful because that girl is bloody scary powerful. And I mean it, I've seen her aura, I don't know how but she's now a damn sight more powerful than you have ever been, even at your height you were nothing compared to her. Oh yes as you have seen Dumbledore, she is not scared to use that power, that Weasley prat is already in St Mungo's for trying to claim her for him self, and after she discovered what you have done to Harry over the years you are lucky you are not there with him."

Harry had managed to get to Gringotts and withdraw some money after getting a replacement key and leaving orders to deny access to anyone who tried to get information about him or his vault. Out in Muggle London he found a bus station and bought a ticket for a coach ride to visit one of the places he had always wished to see. He was soon on his way and fell asleep in the comfortable seat only to be awakened some hours later when the driver of the coach said they had arrived at their destination.

He intended to spend that evening and the next day buying clothes from a local shop and then visiting the famous Harlec castle, which had been built in the thirteenth century for an English King named Edward. The following day as evening closed in after a truly fascinating and enjoyable day of complete freedom he returned to the bus station he had been dropped off at, and after a few enquiries he was once again on a coach and heading south. It was still early evening when he climbed down from the coach in a small resort called Barmouth, and having decided to check out the still open shops he spent a pleasant hour simply walking in and out of the various shops taking a look at the variety of things they sold before he bought himself a two man tent and sleeping bag.

Less than a mile walk along the sea front Harry found the place he was looking for, it was a place recommended by one of the shop keepers. Crossing a railway line that was less than fifty yards from the beach he found the office for the camp site he intended to stay at and after paying for a full week he found a nice shielded spot to erect the two man tent he had bought from the local shop. After struggling for over an hour to figure out how to get his tent up in the slowly fading light he was relieved when he was helped by two of the other people who were there for a camping holiday. Harry slept quite soundly that night as his body gave into the tiredness caused by all he had been through and the lack of proper sleep since the summer started.

Harry woke early the next morning and shivered in the cold morning air as he walked over to the small building that housed the toilet and shower block. Not having the small change required for hot water, he had a truly flesh shrinking cold shower before he walked back to his tent and got ready for a lazy day on the beach.

After spending several hours simply lying on the beach and people watching he went wandering along the beach doing nothing but enjoying the freedom he had. It was time, he decided, to walk the short distance into the small town to find somewhere to get some food. A short time later, leaving the small restaurant he had had a great meal in, he decided it might be cheaper to buy a small camping stove and cook his own food, now that he had decided to stay there for a few more days. He wandered back to the shop he had bought his tent from. Having bought a small camping stove and a bottle of gas to fuel it, he spent some time buying food from a small supermarket and then loaded down with his purchases he took the lazy mans way back to the camp site and climbed into a taxi.

Hermione woke early in the morning and after a quick shower she went down stairs in search of Remus and Sirius. When she walked into the kitchen she found herself alone with Mrs Weasley and the atmosphere was rather awkward for a few minutes before Molly decided to speak.

"Hermione is all that true about Ron?" she asked quietly as though not really wanting an answer.

"Actually Mrs Weasley the full truth may even be far worse. He seems to hate anyone who does better than he does; it's as if he see's them as stealing his glory or something, so he mouths off at them or spreads vicious rumours about them. He really has some serious problems; I mean he is forever saying bad things about Harry behind his back, saying how it was himself and not Harry that did everything, listening to Ron you would think it was him that saved Ginny in the chamber. He also has the habit of driving away anyone who wants to befriend Harry; Ron has some serious issues with his inferiority complex or something. In first year when Harry and Ron looked into the mirror of Erised, Ron saw him self as captain of the Quidditch team and head boy, and yet he has done nothing at all that would help him obtain those positions, he actually refuses to study or read to improve him self, as for Quidditch, well quite frankly he is rather useless because of his nerves.

As for his eating habits well he does actually make quite a few of the younger ones ill when they see him eating. He is totally disgusting as he forces food into his already over stuffed face and then 'if' he chews, he does it with his mouth wide open dribbling bits of food all over his robes and the table. He always talks at meals; trouble is he never talks when his mouth is empty. He is completely lacking in any form of manners at all, either table or personal. Most of the older students have learned to sit so they can avoid watching him or being close enough for him to bore them to death as he goes on and on about the cuddly carrots Quidditch team.

And his greed is infamous, he eats enough for several people and then ten minutes later complains of being hungry and starts all over again. He enters the Great Hall at the start of a meal and only leaves when there is no food left. I have even seen him eat scraps off the table that people have left when we go to the Three Broomsticks. The only reason I put up with him at all is because Harry thinks of him as a friend, though that was wearing very thin with the way he keeps insulting me or my parents and continually arguing over petty little things for no reason other than to hurt my feelings. After what the idiot said and then groping me… well, let's just say he will never get the chance to do it again and stay in one piece." Hermione said honestly.

It was as she finished speaking, Ron with signs of a deeply bruised jaw still visible despite having been to St Mungo's wandered into the kitchen. Without a word he plonked himself in a chair at the table and began to pile a plate high with the bacon eggs and sausage cooked by Molly. Molly watched in disbelief as her son did exactly as Hermione had described. When he had finished his first huge plate full, that had been enough to feed three grown men, he reached over to refill it and was stopped when a stinging hex from Molly hit his hand. "Ronald Weasley I want a word with you, first you can tell me why are you stealing someone else's food?"

"I'm not stealing food, I'm bloody hungry, I'm a growing lad," he answered snarling angrily and reaching again to refill his plate.

The hard slap that hit him on his right cheek stopped him dead. Molly looked at her stinging hand for a few seconds before she spoke. "Do. Not. Speak. To. Me. Like. That… I made enough food for everyone in the house and I now have to make more to make up for the stuff you have already eaten. You are not hungry you are just plain greedy. I don't know why I never noticed before, but I now know that my thoughts that all my boys had healthy appetites were wrong. Had I paid more attention at meals I would have noticed that they had to get their food quick or you would have eaten it all."

She looked at Hermione for a few seconds and then spoke again "Eat up Hermione dear, Ron has finished here, his father and I are going to be teaching him some table manners. I just hope it's not quite as hard as it was trying to teach him to read. You young man will not steal the food from the mouths of others in future, of that you can be sure, even if I have to place a curse on you."

Hermione chuckled as she ate her breakfast; it had been rather amusing to see Ron's face, bright red on one side from the slap, dark blues purple and yellows on the other side while his forehead remained its usual pale almost white colour Molly drag Ron into the living room by his ear, which as was usual when he did not get his own way was deep red. The thought that if Molly had failed to teach Ron any manners during the past fifteen years, then she stood little chance of changing the idiot now, ran through her mind making her grimace a little at the memories of Ron eating in the great hall. She had just placed her knife and fork on her empty plate when she was joined by Sirius who was followed by Remus, both of them wanted to talk about how to find Harry before Dumbledore got over his shock at her attack and reverted to his usual self and did something stupid like forcing Harry back to the Dursley's.

Albus Dumbledore walked tiredly into the almost empty great hall of Hogwarts. Everyone who could see the old headmaster could tell that he had not slept well, his oldest friend and colleague was the first to notice the look of fear that showed in his eyes, and she had to say something. "What troubles you Albus?"

Dumbledore tried to pull himself together; he was not used to feeling fear. Being afraid of two of his puppets had never happened to him before. He kept telling himself that they were just children and he really had nothing to fear, but he could not hide the truth from himself. He had seen in their first year that both Harry and Hermione were exceptionally powerful, that was why he had bound their cores, he was afraid of them surpassing him even then and Hermione Granger had grown powerful enough to break the bindings he had placed on her, her magic was now far greater than his despite him having such a powerful wand. The thought of the girl finding Potter and the lads core being freed terrified him, the idea of both Potter and his girl wanting revenge for what he had put Potter through since he was a baby was a scary thought, nightmares that thought had caused had plagued him all night keeping him from any restful sleep. Despite him often saying that death was simply the start of the next great adventure Albus Dumbledore was just as scared of dying as anyone else. Knowing that the Granger girl probably knew even more spells than he himself knew made a shiver run down his spine.

Trying to put on a brave face he took his usual seat and with a forced smile he wished everyone at the head table good morning. To Minerva he simply whispered "Just a little stiff my dear. Old age I fear."

Hermione and Remus along with their huge black dog had left Grimmauld place six days previous, Hermione was certain she could find her man. Together they walked along side the sea wall. They had spent almost a week working their way on foot from Harlec, checking at every possible place where he could be staying, going south along the Welsh coast in search of Harry. Hermione had been and was still convinced that Harry would be found in the area, he had always wished to see the castle and he also wanted to see what the sea looked like. She was the one that spotted someone who could well be Harry; she had seen him for just a few seconds as he crossed a railway line on the other side of the road a hundred yards in front of them.

Without a single word to her companions Hermione broke into a run and headed across the road, it did not take her long to reach the place she had seen the person who she thought looked too much like Harry for her to be wrong. Just below and in front of her there was a large camp site with tents and caravans all over it. As she scanned the site she saw the person again as he entered a tent at the far end of the site and she was once again running as fast as her legs would carry her. Her only clear thought being 'Harry loves me back' repeated in her mind.

As she reached the tent she was heading for, Harry walked out intending to go to the site shop for some fresh cream and to buy a map so he could plan where he would go next. He had been enjoying his time here but it was time to move on now. Hermione did not stop in her mad run until she threw her self into his arms and without hesitation she kissed him hard full on his lips. The two of them ended up falling down onto the grass, locked in a passionate kiss. It was the loud cough and an even louder bark that made them break the kiss and look sheepishly at the amused face of Remus Lupin and the bright eyes of the large black dog. Lying on his back with Hermione on top of him with his arms firmly around her Harry gave a shy smile to the two men and croaked out "Hi."

Harry had expected them to begin to tell him off about leaving, but to his great surprise Remus politely asked if they could go into the tent. Once he was in the tent Remus waved his wand and increased the space inside then conjured four chairs and having taken seats Hermione, Sirius and Remus began to apologise for how they had acted. Hermione explained that none of them blamed him or thought he was wrong to feel the way he did about things as well as wanting some freedom in his life. Remus really surprised him when he asked if they might join him on his holiday.

Sirius asked him to forgive him for failing to act in his interest as a godfather should. By the time they were finished with the apologies Harry asked if they wanted to eat in the tent or if they wished to walk the half mile or so to the town. He knew by their looks that Hermione had no intention of letting him out of her sight for even a moment, and the two men had done enough walking for the day already, so he didn't push the idea of more walking.

Harry quite surprised them with his ability as he cooked them an excellent meal using just the small camping stove. He sent Remus off to the camp store for the fresh cream required for the strawberries he had for afters while he cooked their meal. As he cooked he thought over what Hermione had done and said, as he remembered the kiss he decided that the past did not matter, she was with him now and it was what he had wanted for so long that he would be truly stupid to ruin things now. There was a small argument later as while Remus was making some changes inside the tent Hermione let all of them know in no uncertain terms that now she had found her Harry, she was not letting him slip away again, so she was not spending another minute away from him and that included sleeping.

Harry enjoyed listening to what the three told him about the happenings at Grimmauld place, he laughed heartily when Hermione told about the lesson that Molly learned from her children, and the resulting treatment of Ron. When Remus told about Hermione's little temper tantrum first with Ron and then Dumbledore he looked at her in awe, she had attacked the supposed greatest wizard alive because she was upset about the treatment of 'her Harry'. He had to wonder when she had decided that he was her Harry, but he knew better than to ask such a question, besides he quite liked the idea of not having to get up the courage to ask her to go out with him, she had already decided he was her boyfriend and he was not going to argue with her.

Remus had made the inside of the tent a little larger and keeping in tent theme he had created three bedrooms with canvas walls. In each bedroom was a comfortable double bed. Hermione never batted an eye lid as she took hold of Harry's hand at ten thirty. "Come on Harry time we went to bed, we have had a very tiring day." She then dragged him into the closest bedroom and closed the curtain like door.

Harry stood stuttering and stammering as he looked at the one and only bed in the room. "H… Her… er Herm… mione there's on…only one…one… one b…b…bed."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

6

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

Chapter three

Hermione pulled Harry over to sit on the bed, she had no idea what was driving her as she looked him in the eye, all she knew was that ever since she had lost her temper at Grimmauld place 'something' was different and it was driving her, urging her toward one end, it was the same force that had helped her blast Dumbledore out of the kitchen. "Harry I want you to be completely honest with me, no holding back or trying not to answer, will you promise me that?" she asked him quietly.

Harry promised as she had asked him and then shuffled until he was sat on the edge of the bed to wait for what she wanted to know.

"Harry, were you jealous when you thought I was at the Burrow because that was where you wanted to be, or were you jealous when you thought I was with Ron?" she began.

"I… er… well to be honest… when I thought you were with Ron." Harry answered feeling foolish.

"Do you love me Harry, like it said in your note?"

Harry answered before he could even think of an answer "Yes, I do."

"Right now I want you to think about this one Harry. Am I in your plans for the future?"

Harry was nodding as he answered "Without you there I don't think I will have a future. Whenever I have thought of my future since the day we became friends it's always you that holds our baby… er perhaps I shouldn't have said that last bit."

"You want to have children with me, a family?" she asked her eyes wide.

Harry smiled as he thought of one of his fondest memories. "When I saw the mirror of Erised that time, I saw my greatest desire as I had my family all around me, but standing with me holding my hand was you, with our three children standing in front of us." He answered happily.

Hermione looked at him with a smile, she knew he was not lying; he couldn't even if he had wanted to, he was so hopeless at it where she was concerned. She could see the depth of his feelings in his eyes, in the way he looked at her, and she knew at that moment that without doubt that she was looking at her future husband and the father of her children.

Before she could ask him anymore questions Harry looked at her nervously "Hermione will you marry me someday?" he asked straight out.

Hermione did not even hesitate, "Yes Harry love, one day we will get married and make it official. Believe it or not, as far as I am concerned you asking and me saying yes means we are now engaged to be married, and as I don't intend to leave you alone ever again, I will consider it as if you are already my husband. An official ceremony and bit of paper won't change what we have. The Muggle world accepts common law marriage and so being a muggle born with the same beliefs as my mum and dad so do I. Well I do now."

"So my sweet common law wife shall we retire for the night?" Harry asked giving a small nervous smile. Harry was shaking from nerves and excitement after the kiss she had given him and he had no intention of disagreeing with her idea.

Both of them turned red faced as they heard both Remus and Sirius congratulate them on their engagement. They also heard one or two other voices outside the tent join in the congratulations. The canvas of the tent walls did nothing to offer any privacy to their conversation. Neither were shy about their feelings for each other but both of them had thought of what could have been heard if they had not taken time out and sat down to talk. Hermione filled with an almost overwhelming desire to know much more about her chosen husband quickly cast some rather strong silencing charms all around their room before speaking again.

Hermione ignored feeling really excited and nervous inside, feeling she was being driven to reach some unknown goal she spoke up. "Come on husband of mine get those clothes off, I want to see what I have to look forward too in the future." she said in a husky voice he had never heard her use before. He had no idea her voice had come out that way because of how truly nervous she was, she her self still had no idea why she was being so forward with him or why she felt the way she did. She wondered was it in fact her subconscious trying to give him a reason not to run away and leave her again, to her mind he was now her life and her future and the father of her future children.

The actual force driving her was the power of her magic as it grew toward its full potential. During their time together at Hogwarts, her magical core had discovered its counterpart in Harry and it needed to create a true and full connection and fully meld with its destined partner so that it could reach that full potential. Harry was feeling exactly the same way, though his magical core was still less than half of hers and if either of them knew about it they would have discovered what it was about the Potters that led them to their true love while still very young. Unfortunately Dumbledore had unknown to them bound their magic several times after their episode with the philosopher's stone so that he could continue to control Harry. Those bonds were in the process of breaking down fully.

Slowly, nervously, and with red faces they both stripped down to their underwear, not able to sleep in a bra as it always made her uncomfortable and the need she felt so deeply getting stronger by the minute, Hermione removed her white cotton bra and then impulsively decided to hell with it, she would go to bed completely naked. Why she felt so brave and brazen she had no idea, all she knew was, she could not resist the powerful urge by some unknown deep desire and need inside her that was almost beyond her control. She never took her eyes off Harry as she pulled her knickers off and stood in front of him in her birthday suit. She was in no doubt about his reactions when she saw the result he was displaying.

Feeling the same sort of need and desire, his magical core reacting the same as the woman's in front of him but not yet as powerfully, Harry was shaking even more with a nervous eagerness as Hermione pulled her knickers off. He could not believe that she was standing there in front of him completely naked and they had only kissed once. Taking a really deep breath to try to steady his shaking knees and hands he pulled his under pants off and dropped them to the floor. Without a word between them they both thought that they might be doing far more than simple kissing that night. It was going to be a night when they started to learn the only things left to learn about each other.

Underneath her apparent calmness Hermione was shaking like a leaf in a storm. Her decision to strip naked had been spontaneous, though no one who knew her would believe it of her; even she was surprised at what she was doing. As she removed her knickers she was terrified that Harry would reject her. She simply did not understand or believe that she was a very good looking and desirable young woman with a body men would fight over. She still thought of her self as the bushy haired large toothed bookworm she had been when she was a little younger, she had somehow missed acknowledging to herself the changes she had gone through in the past few years. She watched his eyes closely and what she saw there gave her a large boost of extra confidence knowing she could cause such an affect in her young man.

As Harry pulled his under pants off and stood there completely naked to her eyes, like many generations of women before her she could not help but wonder how something so large could possibly fit where it was supposed to fit. She worried she might be too small and it would not fit. But even as she had that thought she remembered the numerous novels she had read those very same words in and felt a small wave of relief come over her. Being worried was a normal reaction to seeing a naked man for the first time.

Harry undressed more terrified than he had been even when he faced Voldemort, but when he saw how calm Hermione seemed to be he took a little courage from her and removed all his clothes. By the time he removed his under pants he had forgotten all about his own fear as he drank in the sight of the beauty that was revealed to him. He had never seen anything so beautiful, not even in Dudley's playboy magazines.

The young couple had spent quite some time kissing and fondling, learning all about each others bodies and what they each enjoyed. Though they had both wanted to they had not gone to the final stage as they were both far too tired, they eventually kissed goodnight, and cuddled together they fell asleep.

It was around four in the morning when Hermione awoke to discover Harry spooning with her and she felt his warm body pressing on the small of her back. The thought of what they would eventually do together excited her as much as it had the night before when they had fondled each other while kissing.

When Harry moved forward in his sleep she felt him as he pressed him self tightly against her back. She wanted him so much; she needed to satisfy that want, that need that swirled about and screamed for release in her lower abdomen and chest, driven by something powerful inside her, slowly fighting down the powerful desire she eventually fell back asleep.

When they next woke up they had separated and Harry was lying on his back snoring very quietly until she gently shook him. Harry woke slowly then started to apologise for what he may have done to her during the night but she told him he had done nothing, and even if he had done something she would not have minded.

No longer able to resist the force driving her, Hermione rolled over then stretched her leg over his stomach and pushed herself up into a sitting position. As they made love for the first time, she paused but remained sitting on his lower abdomen for a while as she prepared to say something she had dreamed about since she was eleven years old. "Harry love when we get married can we write our own vows, well I mean I already know what mine will be, I've dreamed about it so often?" she asked quietly.

Harry's mind was far to occupied by what she was doing to really listen to her and he nodded vigorously, what ever she wanted was ok with him as long as she did not stop what she was doing and move away.

"Well I shall say, 'Harry I have had a crush on you as the boy who lived, I have loved you as my first and best friend, and I have fallen in love with you as simply 'my Harry', so I wed thee in true love, in mind, body, spirit, and magic, to be your wife for all eternity, heart to heart and soul to soul so mote it be'."

Harry took a quick breath and thought for just a few seconds and managed to think of something to say "Hermione I love you with all that I am, I will always love you to the end of eternity, and I offer my self and every thing that I am mind body soul and magic as your husband, heart to heart soul to soul, so mote it be… Will that be ok or do I need to work on it?" he asked watching her face to see her expression.

"That my love would be perfect," she replied as she started to move… she then leant forward and kissed him hard and passionately getting far more aggressive as she found that she was suddenly able to satisfy the urge with the pleasure from the intimate act. The thought that she was truly looking forward to the day when they married and could start on making their first child, passed through her mind making her smile.

Neither Harry nor Hermione noticed the glowing golden light that engulfed them as they remained joined together. Nor did they notice the large black dog behind them that had popped its head into their room to see if they were awake yet. The dog they called Padfoot backed his head out of their room silently and then changed into Sirius, he looked at his best friend with a huge smile and a bright glint in his eyes. "Remus my friend last night Harry Potter and Hermione Granger walked into that room, the two who come out of that room later will be Harry and Hermione… Potter.

Remus was staring at Sirius wondering if he had finally gone crazy "What do you mean Padfoot, Harry and Hermione Potter?"

"Remus my old friend they are in there going at it like two rabbits and they must have said their wedding vows because they have the golden bonding glow all around them. You have no idea how relieved I was not to be able to see anything more than Hermione's shoulders and the back of her head." Sirius said smiling at the thought of what his godson was doing.

Remus looked at Sirius with a slightly scared look in his eye, "Are you sure? They are just so young, Hermione' is only sixteen. Oh I hope they used a contraceptive charm or there will be some real problems if she gets pregnant."

Sirius chuckled at his panicking friend, "Easy Moony, Lily and James were both young, only seventeen when they married right after graduating, and you know as well as I do that a head of house can marry at fourteen. Besides it's too late to stop them now, they are already married. Oh and I don't think Hermione is crazy enough to not be on the potion like the other girls that attend Hogwarts. You and I both know that Madam Pomfrey warns all the girls of the dangers of being obliviated."

Remus nodded his head though he did not look as though he was convinced by what Sirius had said. "Well you can be the one to tell them what that glow meant, and you can stand in front of me when you tell them. I can still picture what she did to Dumbledore, so what she will do to the one who tells her we only found Harry yesterday and today she's Mrs Harry… well your guess is as good as mine. That and the fact that you were spying on them, or at least it will seem that way to those two, you should pray she hears you out before she blows her top at you."

Together the two best friends sat quietly and waited for the two teens to leave their bed room. They shared a pot of tea while they waited and discussed what might happen, and what Hermione might say, they also debated what the old man Dumbledore would try to do about it.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

7

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

Chapter four

Inside their bedroom Harry and Hermione were locked in an ecstatic embrace both of them surrounded by a pulsing and throbbing golden glow as their magical cores began to join as if they would quickly become one single magical core. The pulsing golden light around them went on and on until they were both unconscious from the overload of magic they were feeling. As they both fell into darkness a dark shape screaming and writhing as though it was being tortured formed above them and then it suddenly shattered in to a million pieces and vanished. A few seconds later the two teens woke up without realising they had been knocked out for several seconds.

"Hell Harry that was ruddy fantastic, we should have been doing this for years." Hermione said before kissing him again.

All Harry managed was "Wow, I mean WOW, oh boy, wow."

Fifteen minutes later as they lay there holding each other and still recovering Harry could see a small change coming over Hermione, she was beginning to look worried. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke.

"Harry, I er… You… I… you don't think I'm a slut or something, I mean, you don't think I was to easy having sex so soon and not asking you if you wanted to…?" she asked a tear developing in her eye.

Harry didn't know if he was doing right when he simply said what was on his mind at her question. "Hermione sweetheart, I don't think we have been having sex too soon. I mean how long have we been together? We have been out to Hogsmeade together on what could be called dates, we have been shopping together, we have even been to the Burrow on holiday together. We have eaten drunk and basically lived together since we met on that first train ride to Hogwarts. In all that time we have hardly been separated. So no I don't think that after more than four years of dating each other, which is basically what we have been doing, that it was too soon. I don't think you are a slut or easy or any other word that means what you were thinking. You are now my common law wife as you said and I love you and doing what a man and wife do no matter who starts it is not going to change the way I feel except to want you more." Having said that he gave a small smile and an extra squeeze to let her know he meant every word he had said.

Hermione had a radiant smile when she felt him move to give her an extra squeeze sending a small thrill though her body, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, which ended with them having sex again. As they relaxed once again Hermione noticed his scar had faded and maybe even shrunk, and she quickly pointed it out to him.

In a dank and musty room in a derelict mansion in Little Hangleton the newly restored body of Tom Riddle, known to the Wizarding world as Lord Voldemort was writhing in agony on the filthy floor. The magical connection he had had with Harry Potter had suddenly and painfully flared up and then slammed into his head like a large elastic band that had snapped. The severe pain that accompanied the loss of the magical connection to Harry Potter rapidly spread through his entire body.

With the magical connection broken and the trickle of Harry's magic gone the stolen blood of Harry's in the magically made body of Voldemort was beginning to boil and reject the suddenly unrecognised foreign body that housed it. It would not be long before the recently created heart would stop beating unless Voldemort could somehow overcome what ever was happening to him, but without the connection to Potters magic there was nothing he could do. The magic in the blood was rejecting the unknown magic of the body it no longer recognised.

Without even realising it until he was draining the fourth of his soul pieces Tom Riddle began to siphon the life force from the hidden parts of his split soul as he tried to keep him self alive. The Horcruxes that he was so sure made him immortal were slowly being destroyed. The more the Potter magical blood rejected his magicaly constructed body the more life force he drew from his soul pieces and there was nothing he could do to stop it. After just four minutes Tom Riddle could no longer draw any life force from his now drained and dead Horcruxes to keep him alive longer.

The heart attack when it came was so painful that he ripped at his own chest with his talon like fingernails tearing it open and releasing the blood that caused him so much pain, the very blood that took with it its previously life giving magic, soaking into the floor and mixing with the dust and filth. Tom Marvolo Riddle died alone cursing Harry Potter for causing him so much pain, ending with him screaming and begging for Potter to stop the pain, for Potter to give him mercy. All the time he was being listened to by his lone servant, who had his ear to the door listening to the death screams of the most evil and powerful being he had ever heard of.

Harry and Hermione left their bedroom feeling in a very happy mood, the odd yet powerful sensation that had been pushing them together was now all but gone, in its place was a feeling almost of completeness. After closing the door they turned to see two very nervous men fidgeting on their chairs. "Morning Moony, Padfoot." They said together before sitting down for some much needed breakfast.

"Er… Harry, Hermione… er… could you tell us what happened this morning… apart from the sex that is?" Sirius asked a little nervously and yet quite serious.

Red faced and confused, Harry looked at Hermione and he knew she was wondering the same things he was, how did they know about them having sex this morning, and what did they mean by what else had happened? Hermione was the one who voiced those questions to the two men.

Sirius looked a little guilty as he said "I sort of popped my head in under the canvas earlier; I was going to wake you for breakfast. What I saw was rather a shock; as you know I can see auras… well you two were surrounded by the marriage bonding glow. I… er that is… we need to know how that might have happened without any official witnesses. We don't really know how you got married without a wedding bonder. Oh and Hermione I did not see any part of you that I shouldn't I swear it."

Hermione looked at the faces of the two adults and she knew they were not pulling a prank or joking. "So we are really married, when we were talking about our wedding vows, our magic must have accepted them as valid?"

Remus answered her with his face turning as red as Ron could turn as he asked "Were you having sex when you said them? Because if you were then that is why they were accepted and it is a bond that can never be reversed, that's why there is no divorce in the Wizarding world."

Harry nodded to himself and then chuckled a little as he looked at Hermione, "So there goes that common law wife idea then Mrs Potter."

Hermione gave him a radiant smile and then launched herself in to his lap. The kiss they shared made both Sirius and Remus blush and turn away it was so sensual and passionate. Sirius was getting worried they might even have sex right there in front of him so he coughed as loud as he could. It took Remus joining in with the coughing and shaking Harry's shoulder to end the kiss.

It was when they separated that Sirius noticed that Harry's scar was barely visible but before he could say a word Hermione pointed out the fact that Harry's scar had shrunk to almost be invisible. Remus stepped forward and gently lifted Harry's fringe. There was no mistaking what Hermione said was true, even close up the scar was only just visible. "How… how did this happen?" he asked letting the fringe drop back into place.

Harry and Hermione looked at Remus and he knew they had no idea what had happened to shrink the scar. "It's a pity there is no library here," Hermione commented as they all fell silent lost in their own thoughts.

While Remus was speaking and suggesting that it must have had something to do with the bonding, Sirius noticed something that the others could not see. There was a faint, yet to him with his aura seeing ability, distinct blue light that joined the two teens. Sirius had recently read something about a similar occurrence that had been witnessed by the knights of the round table. According to the ancient book Sirius read there was a joining of their magic between Arthur and Guinevere, making them both far more powerful, both magically and physically. Later the same year two of the commoners who had been rescued prisoners that were magically core bound by Mordred, had done the same thing that their king had done with disastrous results, but Sirius couldn't recall the details.

Without a word to his companions about it Sirius called out "Kreacher!"

The loud crack made Harry and Hermione both jump, "Who on earth?" Harry asked as the stooped old elf appeared.

Hermione was still not exactly happy that Sirius actually owned a house elf and she let him know it in no uncertain and rather loud terms. Sirius however ignored them all as he sent his elf to fetch a book from twelve Grimmauld place. Kreacher left the tent making a loud noise as he did so, he returned just a few minutes later and handed a large and well read book to Sirius then vanished with a loud crack.

Despite its form of delivery Hermione looked hungrily at the ancient book that Sirius had open in front of him without even noticing that Remus was reading over his shoulder, he was so engrossed in what he was reading. It was a few minutes before Sirius slammed the book shut and with a look of panic he turned to Remus. "We need to get these two somewhere isolated and safe away from the muggles, and do it quickly."

Remus having not been able to read all that his friend had read, not understanding or asking why thought for a moment, and then his eyes lit up as though a light had suddenly entered his head and revealed a hidden memory. "The boat house on Potter estate!" He exclaimed looking at his best friend.

Without pause Sirius and Remus pulled the two teens to their feet and with a crack sound all four of them vanished from the tent. When they reappeared they were standing by the side of a rather large lake knee deep in lush green grass. Sirius spoke rather quickly to the two teens, "No time to explain, you should remain here until we return, Remus and I need to go some place, I wish we could stay with you but it is far to dangerous. We should be safe in the boat house. We will be back as soon as it is over."

Sirius then handed Hermione the large book "Page 227, read it and stay together while we are gone, don't separate at all." He then turned to Remus and said "Run!"

After watching the two adults run off across the vast field of grass Harry trod down a small circle of grass then sat in the middle pulling Hermione onto his lap. "Well that was ruddy odd… what do you suppose had them behave like that?" he said as he wrapped his arms around Hermione's stomach.

"No idea, seemed rather rude to me," she said as she opened the book and began to flip through the pages. She had just started to read page 227 when there was a huge flash of pure white light followed by a loud noise that sounded like a clap of thunder. A sudden powerful release of magic exploded from them into the air around them. The pain caused by the release of magic that shot through the two teens knocked them both out instantly. It was fifty minutes later before they started to stir; Hermione was the first to wake, to find she ached all over, she felt as though each and every muscle in her body was bruised. It reminded her a little of the pains she suffered the day after her first sports day at the primary school, except this pain covered every inch of her.

Slowly she managed to turn to look at Harry despite the complaining muscles in her neck, what she saw made her take in a quick breath. Harry had changed, he was no longer small and scrawny, he looked like a full grown twenty year old instead of the fifteen almost sixteen he was. Somehow her Harry had somehow both grown and aged a little and he looked so much better for it, he had a larger muscular chest and his arms around her were also covered in muscle. His clothes had torn and burst open due to him being at least a foot taller and far more muscular. The damage inflicted on his physical development during his early years by his relatives was no longer visible, as if it had never happened.

Harry woke up just a minute later and stared at Hermione, he could see all the same sort of age changes in her that she saw in him, there was no doubt in his mind that she was now a full grown mature woman and she was even more beautiful. She had also grown but nowhere near the amount that he had, her clothes though now tighter still covered her where it mattered, though she needed to unfasten her bra as it was far to tight after the change in her body, and size of her broader back. Her hair was no longer bushy, her complexion clear and her figure more curvy and positively sexy.

"What the hell happened?" he asked quietly while trying not to move his aching muscles too much.

Hermione looked down to read the book Sirius had given her but it was completely destroyed. What ever it was that had happened they both knew they had been at the centre of it. "We'll have to ask Sirius, seems he had an idea what was going to happen, although it would have been nice to know what to expect," she said as she looked around them. The grass that had been knee deep when they sat down was flattened for as far as they could see from where they were sat; several trees on the other side of the small lake were also flattened.

The two newly weds were interrupted about half an hour later as they shared a few kisses to celebrate their body changes, and to come to terms with yet another seemingly impossible thing happening in their lives. When Remus and Sirius arrived, both were visibly relieved to find the two alive and well and yet neither seemed surprised with the changes they had gone through. Hermione could not wait to find out what had happened and asked as the two men joined them sitting on the grass.

"Sirius what happened? We never had time to read that book," she asked "oh and I'm sorry but there wasn't much left of it after what ever happened." She added watching Sirius get comfortable.

Remus was the one who answered her question "Sirius noticed it first; there was a power connection between you two. The odd thing was it was far too weak to be right for a magicaly married couple. Then he noticed it begin to pulse and flare as if trying to get free or something. Sirius remembered reading something about something similar recently, and when he read the book it was describing exactly what was happening to you two. It was followed with a warning that once the pulse got strong enough there would be a huge explosive release of magic, the more powerful the witch and wizard the larger would be the release."

"So what was it that was released?" asked Harry.

"Didn't I mention it, I thought I did. It's what happens if two really powerful magical people have their core bound and then go through a special magical ritual like the extra special wedding bond you two shared. The bond has to have full access to both magical cores to enable full power sharing between the couple. Some one had bound yours and Harry's core for some reason, someone powerful. It had to be mainly you that caused the back lash Harry because Hermione's magic was already amazingly powerful when she downed Dumbledore. We think she had partially destroyed her binding with her anger while at Grimmauld. You're lucky you did not blow each other apart as you broke the bonds on your cores. Oh if you are wondering how we are sure it was Harry who had his core still bound, then just remember what you did to the old man Hermione, it took four of the order together to enervate the old coot. If you had had your core fully bound it had definitely partially broke free at Grimmauld place."

Without thinking Hermione said with a scowl "Won't Dumbledore be oh so pleased we ruined what ever plan he had, 'if' we go back to his school. And you are right my magic increased when I lost my temper with that red headed prat when he groped me, I felt the change before I hit him."

Harry quickly spoke up with a look of disgust on his face "Dumbledore, he did this to us. He was the only one with the power to do it that we have both been in contact with. We will not be returning to where that old man can get his hands on us again."

Both Sirius and Remus agreed with Harry that they should not return to Hogwarts and were quite loud in doing so. Remus stated quite loudly that it seemed Dumbledore was up to something and what ever it was it was definitely not in Harry's best interest. In fact what ever it was seemed to point to a very short life span for the green eyed wizard if they considered all he had had to face and how many times he had come close to being killed since starting at Hogwarts.

Listening to the men speaking Hermione was not happy about what they were saying it was confirming her own recent thoughts about the supposed great wizard, she began to run through all that had happened to them over their time at Hogwarts to see if she could work out what the real reason might be and why their cores had been bound. It did not take her long to come to the only conclusion she could, which she then just blurted out "He's setting Harry up as the fall guy for something," when she looked at the strange looks she was getting from the others she said it again but in a way that wizards and young men who had never been allowed to watch the TV would understand.

"Dumbledore is using Harry as bait or a martyr of some sort; he's probably hoping that he can entice Voldemort in to another trap, with Harry as the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. I think that's what has been happening at Hogwarts, he intends for Harry to die while weakening Riddle, so that he can finish what Harry started and take all the credit. And from what we know about his so called greater good, he probably intends to steal Harry's inheritance as well, claiming it as Harry's magical guardian. And all for the 'greater good', though it would seem to me to be the greater good of Albus Dumbledore of coarse," she almost shouted in anger.

An hour later after calming the two angry teens, Remus reassured Harry that he had collected the tent and all of Harry's belongings, the Potter's and the two family friends were taking a tour of Potter boat house, though it rightly should have been called a manor house. They were being shown around by three house elves who had informed Hermione that they were bonded to the Potters through family love and not as slaves. They then explained how they benefited greatly by being bonded to a family, especially one like the Potters. Their magic was stronger and they lived for far longer than free elves did.

Hermione slowly began to accept their argument and was rather pleased at how happy it made the elves. Still they needed to make some plans and the first thing she wanted to do was to get her parents as far from the hands of Dumbledore and the order of the phoenix as she could get them. Harry thinking about what she was saying called out for his friend Dobby.

Dobby arrived and was so excited to have been called by Harry that they had some trouble trying to understand what the little elf was trying to tell them while they all simultaneously asked him questions. A rather frustrated Dobby stamped his foot several times, his eyes then lit up as he had an idea and he gave a quick wave of his hand which froze the wizards where they stood, leaving only Hermione free. "Mistress Potter, I has him. I has him here in this pocket," he said as he delved deeply into a pocket Hermione had never noticed before. "I'se had to stop master Harry and his doggy and the doggy's wolf from getting crazy like Kreacher, I has." Dobby said as he pulled a petrified rat out from the depths of his pocket and placed it at Hermione's feet.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

7

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse

Chapter five

Hermione watched the excited elf Dobby as he placed a rat in front of her, it took her less than a second to know that Dobby had delivered Peter Pettigrew to them, and she understood why he had frozen her Harry and the other two. After his escape from them the last time he was caught they would have killed the rat instantly if given the chance.

"Harry, Sirius, and you Remus. I am going to ask Dobby to release you but you can not, I repeat, you can not kill Pettigrew. We need him alive to free Sirius." Hermione reminded the three wizards.

Dobby waved his hand at them and they were all suddenly free to move once again. Dobby looked at Harry with some trepidation, "I'se sorry master Harry sir." The small elf declared as he started to pull at his ears.

"Dobby stop that, you did the right thing. We were all feeling angry at Dumbledore and if you had not acted like that, then the four of us would now be regretting our actions had we killed that evil little worm." Harry told his little friend in a calm voice.

Once Remus and Sirius had forced the rat to take on his human form they were shocked to see that Peter Pettigrew was in more fear of Harry than he had been of Voldemort. When they questioned him Peter revealed that Voldemort was dead and he went on to describe what he had heard and seen. How it was Harry who had done something to make the stolen blood to reject Voldemort completely.

"P…p,p,p Please Harr… arry please don't do what you did to the dark lord to me, I'll take my punishment b,b,b,but p,p,please not that. Please don't do that to me. I don't want to die like that." Pettigrew begged pitifully. He was terrified of what Harry might do despite the fact that he did not have any of Harry's blood in his system.

As Pettigrew was speaking Remus conjured a cage to keep their prisoner in until they could get Madam Bones to come and collect the vile little man. Hermione had several questions for the grubby little rat featured man and by the time he had answered them all they knew where Voldemort's remains could be found. Plus thanks to her promise to stop her husband doing to him what he had done to Riddle, they also had a list of all the death eaters and their supporters that were known to the rat animagus. They also had an oath from him to tell all he knew to madam Bones.

While Hermione was working out what to do next Harry sent Dobby and two of his elves off to collect the Grangers and return with them to the boat house. Hermione had Harry send another elf to deliver a message and if she requested it then to fetch madam Bones to the house so that they could talk to her in person.

The news that Voldemort was dead was exciting and cheered them even more than catching Wormtail. But then Sirius mentioned Dumbledore and wondered about what his long term plans were for Harry, and he wondered if Voldemort's death would make any difference to the old man. Peter broke the silence that had fallen on the small group. "D… D… D… Dumbledore is after the P… Potter heritage, all the death eaters know about that, it was the old man and Snape's thieving and trying to steal James fortune that got me in to this mess. They want Hogwarts, it belongs to the Gryffindor/Potter family and Harry is the only one left of both families."

"Peter tell me what you know of Dumbledore, I'm not interested in how you know. I think I can guess that, knowing how Snape can't keep his mouth shut when it comes to Harry." Hermione demanded of the traitor.

Peter stared at the young woman and he could see in her eyes just how dangerous she could be so decided he would tell them everything he knew and hoped it would bring a little mercy from her. "Snape told us the crazy old coot D… Dumbledore wanted H… Harry to die fighting Voldemort. He was convinced that Voldemort would die if he was to kill Harry.

We… the death eaters that is… we had many a good laugh at that idea, the dark lord was always telling us that he was immortal and he had gone further down that road than any wizard in history. Anyway when both Harry and Voldemort died Dumbledore was going to claim the credit for training Harry in how to finish the dark lord's life. If Harry survived he was going to finish the job of killing him so that Ginny Weasley could claim the Potter fortune using an illegal betrothal contract, it was supposed to have been signed by Sirius, so I suppose they had plans to get rid of Sirius as well. V… V… Voldemort dying like that, it was awful… he was screaming in so much pain, kept screaming about his soul was dying one piece at a time, like he was delirious with the pain, he kept begging Harry to stop the pain, screaming for mercy… kept screaming that Harry was burning away his life force, or something. I swear if Dumbledore had heard what I heard and saw after, he would never dare to even be near to Harry."

None of them were surprised when they heard someone say 'damn', at the same time as two loud gasps were heard. Turning, Harry and Hermione were facing Helen and Richard Granger who were standing next to Amelia Bones. All three of them had heard Peter's revelation about Dumbledore and Voldemort's death.

After quick welcoming hugs with Hermione's parents and hand shakes with Madam Bones, who had a few questions about why Sirius Black was with them, they all stood and listened as Peter repeated his tale to a crystal recording stone. Amelia Bones seemed to be furious about something and kept on quietly cussing about the law. Remus was the one who asked her what the problem was.

Amelia looked at her current companions thoughtfully before speaking. "Apart from this supposed to be dead criminals say so we have absolutely no hard evidence against that old fraud Dumbledore. I have never liked or trusted the damn man. Forcing us to send officers up against vile and dangerous people with such restrictions on them that they were almost guaranteed to either get killed or to let the criminals escape. We don't have enough to bring the fraud in and make it stick. We need more acceptable evidence, another witness or two."

"I think there might be a way to start things going our way," Remus said looking rather thoughtful. "Suppose Pettigrew were to get a message to Snape about how Riddle died in agony killed by Harry, and how he had heard that Potter was going to be after the greasy haired one next before he went after Malfoy, Dumbledore, then the rest. Snape would believe it because of his dark mark, if you remember Snape felt the power of the dark mark increase last year when that monster got a new body, so he is bound to have felt it decrease when it died."

"Snape would take off like a scalded rat," Hermione commented instantly. "He knows how much Harry hates him for the way he treated him and his other students."

"Exactly," Remus said, "and he would be outside the castle away from Dumbledore's protection, now would he not?"

Amelia's eyes lit up at that, "He would have to leave the castle through the gate to get away from the wards; we could have someone concealed and tag him with a tracking charm. You know Remus that could well work, we could arrest him on some trumped up charge considering his treatment of the students is so well known. Force him to take a small dose of calming draught to get around his Occlumency and then shove some Veritaserum down his vile throat, with the calming draught he would not be able to resist the truth serum… yes I think that is an excellent way to start after that bearded bloody fool."

"Madam Bones there are several tunnels out of Hogwarts, and it just so happens that I own a rather unique map that will allow you to know if he decides to use one to leave the castle." Harry said a wide grin appearing on his face at the thought of the foul dungeon bat getting justice at last.

At the same time that Amelia Bones was speaking to Harry as he showed her how to use the map. Severus Snape entered the head masters office at Hogwarts. What he saw was quite a shock to him; the office looked like there had been an explosion of some sort. On the far side of the office Albus Dumbledore was inspecting things in amongst the wreckage that had once been a set of floor to ceiling shelves.

"Headmaster?" Severus asked as the old man began to curse.

Dumbledore turned to see his potions master and spy looking around at the damage. "Harry Potter, Severus, though I don't know how he did it. Every

One of my instruments connected to the boy seem to have been destroyed rather violently. How the boy could have got into the office is beyond me, none of my wards alerted me to an intruder. The school wards did not alert me to the early appearance of a student, and the portraits swear he has not been in the office."

"You have instruments connected to the brat?" Severus asked wondering why he would have such things.

"Hmm, I did have, I needed to keep track of him, have him monitored so I knew what he was up to, make sure he doesn't leave Privet drive, though since he has vanished it seems I failed in doing that." The older man answered picking up another destroyed trinket.

"Well headmaster who ever did this has to be rather powerful, so I highly doubt it was Potter, the brat is completely useless." Severus said his hate of Harry Potter coming to the fore again.

"Severus there are times that I wonder if you have damaged your brain in some way. Year after year Potter has survived things that would make you wet your self and yet still you insist on repeating your utter stupidity. First you blame him for everything that happens and in the next breath you say he is incapable of doing anything. Even with his core bound the boy has more power than you could ever dream of having." Dumbledore snapped angrily.

Severus Snape seeing the head master losing his temper for the first time since he had met the man decided he would leave his report on the inactivity of Voldemort and the change in the dark mark until later, made his excuses, and rushed from the office. He most definitely did not want another powerful wizard to start taking their frustrations out on him; he had enough of that from Voldemort.

Settling down in a rather comfortable sitting room, everyone had questions they wanted answers to, not least Helen and Richard Granger who were shocked at the appearance of Hermione.

As everyone got comfortable for what could be a few hours of talking Hermione called for one of the elves and asked for some tea for them all. The elf that answered her call gave the Grangers something new to ask about when she bowed her head a little and said "Right away Mistress Gryffindor Potter," and then vanished.

Richard stared at his daughter for several seconds looking rather angry. "Hermione what is the meaning of this, why were you called Gryffindor Potter?"

Hermione was about to answer when Remus saved her from getting her self in a spot with her father. "As you can see, Harry and Hermione have undergone some changes very recently, only this morning actually. It would appear that they had their magical cores bound by someone, we think it was Dumbledore. Anyway this morning the bindings on their cores broke down while they were holding hands, and in the aftermath of the magical explosion that happened when they became free they were engulfed in an aura of some sort.

Which basically means their two magical cores had joined together as if they were one. In the magical world that means they are now married. You will also discover if you check that their marriage is also legal in the muggle world due to an ancient treaty." Remus said spinning his tale from the truth without actually telling the truth. It was something he had become rather good at in his youth as a marauder, saving his friends from far more detentions than they had actually received. "And as you can see the results of the broken bonds caused a large power increase in their joined cores and their magic has forced them to grow and age in order for their bodies to contain the power that they now have."

Richard looking even angrier took in a deep breath and was about to begin yelling at Harry when he was stopped by Sirius.

"Mr Granger, Richard if I may, allow me to relate to you a little tale of something that happened a few days ago before you say or do something stupid that you may regret later…

Albus Dumbledore widely accepted the world over as the most powerful wizard alive. Found himself hurtling through the air for a little over thirty feet from a spell cast by your daughter, he was then informed while he lay where he landed shaking in fear, just what your daughter thought of him before she stunned him, or in your terms knocked him out with a spell that took four people acting together to remove.

Why, you might ask would she do such a thing, the answer is quite simple; Dumbledore separated her from 'her Harry'. I should also add that that was before she underwent the tremendous power increase this morning."

Richard looked at Hermione in astonishment; the idea that his quiet book reading daughter would do such a thing over a boy was hard for him to understand. Helen then spoke up. "Dumbledore did something to hurt Harry, yes?"

Hermione looked at her mother and nodded but did not speak, she was still trying to work out how on earth Remus had managed to tell the story he had with out having time to think it all out first and still get all the important points over.

"Well sweetheart I have to say that it doesn't really surprise me that you would do something like that for Harry. I know that you have always been fiercely protective of him, and I guessed from your letters that it would not be long before the two of you would be together as a couple, but I had thought it would be as boy and girlfriend. You being married and not yet left school is quite a shock." Helen said looking alternatively between the two teens.

Harry was the one who spoke up for them both, "We can honestly say that we never expected this to happen, well not for a few years when I would have undoubtedly asked Hermione to marry me. There is something you need to know Mr Granger sir, there is no annulment or divorce from the type of marriage we have, our magical cores will be connected forever, there is no way to separate them, and even if there were I don't think we would want that to happen. Your daughters' future and safety are now my responsibility as her husband. Though in all honesty, she is the one who always pulls my butt out of the fire when ever I get myself into something. You could rightly say she is most definitely the boss of our little family."

Hermione was blushing at Harry's praise when she spoke. "Dad, I'm a married woman now and I shall behave as such. I will live with my husband because where he lives will now be home to both of us. I will no longer be living as a normal school girl and I'm sorry but you will have to accept the fact that I have grown up."

Richard looked at his wife and he could see she had already accepted the way things had changed, he looked at his daughter and noted the changes she had undergone and he had to agree that things had changed, neither he nor any of the others could change what had happened and he reluctantly began to accept the way things were.

Amelia Bones who had been sitting and listening, had no comments to make so after finishing her snack and her tea she asked if Dobby could take her to the ministry and then bring her back, she had a few things to do to set the trap for Snape. She needed to start the ball rolling on clearing Sirius, and on Hermione's insistence start an investigation into who sent two Dementors to Little Whinging after Harry. With Harry's okay Dobby vanished with the head of the DMLE holding his hand.

It was an hour and a half later when Amelia returned to the Boat house and the family was just about ready to go on a tour of the house. First thing she did was to hand over a post owl to Remus who would use it to send the letter to Snape in the morning. She then handed a copy of their marriage certificate to Hermione after showing it to Richard to prove to him they were indeed magically married. After informing them that as from nine am the next morning they would have three Aurors on duty hidden just outside the Hogwarts gates and at each of the other exits from Hogwarts waiting for the potions professor to leave so that they could tag him and then track him and arrest him out of sight of the old bearded fool, she wished them all goodnight. Before she left Harry handed her his copy of the marauders map, and showed her again how it worked so that she would know where the greasy git was, they said goodbye after getting a promise that the map would be returned, and then Dobby feeling like an important part of the Gryffindor Potter family took her home.

In his office Albus Dumbledore was still trying to repair his trinkets and having no luck at all. Cursing loudly he threw the remains of his tracking devices into the waste bin then repaired his shelves, with each spell he cast he cursed the name of Potter and following each curse he swore he would still somehow get his hands on the Potter heritage no matter what he had to do.

Severus Snape went to his bed wondering whether he should have returned to the headmasters office and made his report, but then shrugged his shoulders and tried to get comfortable. He would report to the old man in the morning at breakfast.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

Chapter six

After all the talking the small group were quite happy to simply spend some time looking around the house, each of the twelve rooms were warm and gave a feeling of home, even the kitchen. By the time they had toured the house properly and then taken a walk in the gardens they were rather surprised to find it was supper time. Dobby had appeared in front of them as they sat on the benches of a small picnic area that contained six rather large rough hewn tables and bench sets, all of them were relaxed while looking out over the small fishing lake, to let them know that supper would be served in thirty minutes.

That night when Harry and Hermione went to bed their lovemaking was completely different from the night before, the only thing driving them was their desire for each other, the love making was slow and filled with all the feelings of love and the passion they had for each other.

They were woken the next day at just after eleven am when Helen knocked on their door and called for the two lazy bones to get up. Waiting for them in the kitchen were Hermione's parents, Amelia Bones and two Aurors who were introduced to them as Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks, Harry had never met either before and was quite surprised by the female law officer who had bright pink hair.

They were informed that thanks to Wormtail's admission Voldemort's hideout had been discovered, the body of the snake faced Dark Lord had been taken to the ministry and was now on display while under heavy guard in the ministry atrium. Dozens of illegal items had been discovered and were being destroyed as they spoke. Minister Fudge was now under investigation after his under secretary had been discovered to be the one who had sent the Dementors to Little Whinging. Fudge was also being investigated over his attempt to cover up Voldemort's return and had been removed from his office as the minister. He was now under arrest for corruption and other related crimes.

An owl with a letter written by Pettigrew had been sent out that morning to Severus Snape and the school was being watched for Snape's departure. Amelia had hopes that the potions masters' knowledge would lead them to more death eaters. She grinned as she sent her Aurors to Honeydukes sweet shop in Hogsmeade, her grin grew even wider as she watched Snape leave the map on his way to being captured. Amelia Bones had waited a long time to get her hands on the vile potions teacher. She hoped that by evening she would have the evidence needed to start arresting the former death eaters who had escaped justice after the previous war. She had no idea that Snape would have all the evidence needed to arrest the slippery old man who ran Hogwarts like it was his own personal human laboratory.

Harry was quite surprised at lunch time when a large owl arrived with a letter from Gringotts asking him to make an appointment to discuss with the Potter account manager his recent change in status to that of a married man. Sending a reply to Gringotts was done while they ate their lunch, the Gringotts owl quite happy to wait while Harry scribbled out his willingness to visit any time his account manager was available. While Harry scratched out his reply Hermione spent the time feeding the owl several slices of carved meat from both hers and Harry's plates.

Severus Snape read the note from Pettigrew and remembered Dumbledore's words about the Potter brat. Mindful of how Dumbledore would react to discovering that Voldemort was dead, he packed his things into his trunk and then snuck out of the castle and into the tunnel under the whomping willow. Escape beckoned the potion master and he was not going to give Albus the chance to prevent him from leaving yet again.

Amelia left the Potter house and arrived at Hogsmeade just in time to see Snape arrested, he was charged with the first thing the lead Auror thought of, which was 'a verbal assault on the new minister's niece Miss Susan Bones and publicly insulting the ancient Bones family'. The Auror's did not give the hated man time to argue that there was no such crime, they quickly placed him in handcuffs and portkeyed him to an interrogation room at the ministry.

Harry and Hermione along with Remus, the two older Grangers and their dog all arrived at Gringotts at around the same time that Snape was being placed in an interrogation room. The whole family was quite surprised when Hermione was welcomed as Lady Gryffindor Potter; they were even more surprised to learn that she was also Lady Ravenclaw. It had apparently been her explosion of anger at Dumbledore that had awoken her latent Ravenclaw power.

The two Potters very quickly learnt from their account manager that they owned far more than just the Boat house. The Potters also owned two vaults apart from the one that Harry had been using, which was just his school vault. Their account manager Sharpclaw, revealed he knew about Sirius being an animagus when he asked the dog why on earth the Potters had left the safety of the Potter castle and moved to such a vulnerable location?

It was a shock to them all to learn that the cottage at Godrics Hollow had not become known as Potters cottage until the young family had moved into the place. Before that it had been called the 'Bee Hive' and belonged to the Dumbledore family, or more precisely to Aberforth Dumbledore, owner of the Hogs head inn in Hogsmeade. It was again Hermione who began to work the puzzle out and she blurted out. "I know why Dumbledore trusts Snape so much. They were both in on the plot to take the Potter fortune. I bet Dumbledore was the one who sent Snape to Voldemort with the prophecy. I will also bet he knew about Pettigrew being the spy in the order, he had to, with Snape being his lackey he would have known the rat was a death eater. That's why Snape hates you so much Harry, it is nothing to do with your father, it's because you were keeping them from getting their filthy hands on your families' money."

Quite some time later, after tempers had settled down some they were taken down to see the Ravenclaw vault. There was no money or gold in there but there was a large collection of hand written scrolls and several chests containing nothing but memory vials. Harry saw his wife's eyes light up at all the knowledge that was now available to her, he was quite surprised to see the same look in both his in laws eyes as well. For a short time he thought he might never get his wife and the Grangers out of the vault as they read scroll after scroll, he was relieved when Richard asked Sharpclaw if Harry and Hermione had any property that had a large enough library to house the stuff in the vault.

"The boat house dad, we can expand the size of the library with magic so we will not need to move again, not unless we exceed that crackpot Trelawney's prediction that Harry will have twelve children. To be honest we only want three so we should be ok there for quite some years." Hermione said smiling at the look on her fathers face when she said twelve kids.

Sharpclaw offered to organise the transfer of the vault contents when ever Lady Ravenclaw Gryffindor Potter asked. Harry was quite happy as everyone agreed to the Goblins suggestion. Though Hermione had said that the boathouse would be a good place to live, he made up his mind that they would visit some of the other Potter properties before they made a final decision on their future home. He quickly learned his wife was just as happy as he was with the idea when he suggested it. she was also happy because they were going to be taken to the Gryffindor vault where she might find even more hidden knowledge.

They were all shocked including Sharpclaw, with what they found in the Gryffindor vault, there were a few hand written leather bound books. Like the Ravenclaw vault there were several scrolls under preservation charms. When Hermione examined them to her delight she discovered that they had been written by and once belonged to Merlin. Harry shocked them all when he removed a sheet from a suit of leather armour. What he uncovered was King Arthur Pendragon's armour and with it was a fabled sword.

Harry had left the rest of the group as they examined some of Merlin's scrolls, and he went to examine the weapons and armour that was stored at the back of the vault. After playing about with some of the swords he came across what he thought might be an early version of a training dummy so he reached up and with a broadsword in his hand he pulled the sheet off the dummy. His rather loud exclamation that left his mouth unbidden when he took hold of the famous sword and saw the name engraved along its length. Excalibur Pendragon caused all of them to look around in surprise.

As Harry held the sword he felt as though it was revealing its history to him, it revealed it had been made by the great magic giver for Arthur and had been used just once since Arthur left the human world. As he stood holding it, it disappointed him a little when it revealed that it was not for him to wield. His disappointment was vanished in an instant when it revealed that it would once again be wielded by a Potter at a time when the magical world was in desperate need, it went on to reveal that it would be one of Harry and Hermione's direct descendants who would be the one to wield it at the right time.

Hearing the odd noise that Harry had made had Hermione the Grangers and the two marauders rushing to find him to see if he was ok. What they found was Harry holding up a sword and completely surrounded by a white light that seemed to pulse from the sword. Both Sirius and Richard took hold of Hermione to hold her back as she had made to rush to her husband. "No Hermione wait until it is over, it is not harming Harry, if it was he would not be looking quite so happy." Remus told her which had her settle down and watch with the others.

As soon as the sword stopped revealing things to him Harry almost reverently replaced the sword in its scabbard and he then gave a slight bow toward the armour in memory of Arthur before he re-covered the suit of armour. He turned to his family who had appeared slightly behind him to his right, with a huge smile on his face and almost ran to Hermione. Lifting her up by her waist he spun her around, "One of our direct descendants is going to be the one to wield the sword of King Arthur." He told the surprised woman.

Hermione had no idea what Harry was talking about, King Arthur had died more than a thousand years in the past and his magical sword thrown into a lake, she knew that Harry knew quite well the difference between ancestors and descendants, so what he said did not make sense. "Harry love you are going to have to explain that one," she said as he put her back on her feet.

Harry was almost hopping as he told them how and what the sword had revealed to him. He ended up saying quite proudly "One of our descendants will be using the sword Excalibur of Arthur Pendragon, he will use the sword to save the magical world from certain annihilation. You know what that means, we as in you and I are definitely going to have those children we want. It was amazing Hermione love, it didn't actually speak like having a voice, it was more a feeling or a vision and yet it wasn't. It's almost impossible to describe but it felt so real so… oh I don't know, I just know it gave me much knowledge of the past and some of the future."

Harry was still talking about Excalibur when they entered the Potter family vault. He quickly went quiet when he found two letters addressed to him one each from his mother and father. Along with them was a small shoe box from his grandmother and grandfather Evans. He looked at them for several minutes without making any effort to open them. Slowly he passed them to Hermione, "Will you hold them please love? We can read the letters and take a look in the box tonight when we are at home together." He asked quietly.

Hermione knew without asking why he wanted to wait, she knew that Harry had never once in his life let anyone but her see him cry. She had known that fact since their second year when he had led her to a deserted classroom at Hogwarts and wept as he told her how sorry he was that he had not been there to protect her from the Basilisk, he had been terrified she could have died and he would not be able to carry on in the world of magic without her to help him and keep him safe. She had dismissed it as just their close friendship at the time due to their age, but she had remembered his words the night just a few days before when she had read the letter that told her he loved her. Tucking the letters safely in her handbag she placed the shoe box under her arm and wrapped the other arm around him as they walked around the vault looking at all the things that the Potters had left in the vault over the generations.

Later that night as the two young ones sat on their bed, Harry chose to open the box from his maternal grandparents first. His first surprise was the adoption papers of one Petunia Smith from Happy fields' orphanage at the age of two. The thought that Dumbledore had forced him to suffer so much by placing him with his evil aunt because of his claim about some blood wards associated with his mothers sacrifice and blood kin keeping him safe was so obviously a lie. Petunia was in no way truly related to Harry or his mother. Hermione was ready to carry out her threat to Dumbledore, until Harry asked her to find a way to destroy the old man by destroying his reputation. Dumbledore would suffer far more that way than he would if they sent him on to face his final reward.

The next set of documents were deeds to a rather nice property that was just one street away from the Granger home. The two teens instantly decided that they would check the house and to have any repairs that might be needed done before moving in so that they would be close to Hermione's parents.

Harry also discovered that his grand parents had left him a nice sum of money. He had one and a quarter million pounds in an account with the National Westminster bank. At the bottom of the box there was a well used photo album and a large collection of photos of his mother from her infancy up to the day she got married. It was two teary eyed teens who fell asleep in each others arms that night.

The Potters were not the only people going to bed happy that night, Amelia Bones wore a huge smile as she donned her nightdress. With the evidence from both Snape and Pettigrew she could put several people in to Azkaban, what she thought of as her main prize was Albus Dumbledore. She was absolutely certain that there would be no way that the slippery manipulative thief would be able to talk his way out of things this time. The fact that he had not actually been the one who ended the reign of Grindelwald would totally destroy his reputation.

While Severus Tobias Snape was been interrogated a search had been made of his belongings and his property. At the property in Spinners End memories and note books filled with complete details of all that Dumbledore had told Snape, all their plots, and plans were found. It seemed that the potion master had never actually trusted the old man and had saved all the evidence just in case the old man tried to pin all the blame on him if they were ever caught.

Amelia knew for an absolute certainty that there would be arrest tomorrow that would rock the entire magical world, and not just the British community. As she lay down in her comfortable four poster bed she made a mental note to her self to inform the Muggle prime minister of her discovery within the next few days. She drifted off to sleep to dream of the arrests that she would take part in over the next few days.

Richard and Helen Granger were also happy as they retired for the night. After years of not being able to see what their daughter was learning at the school they paid so much for, both Hermione and Harry had given them a small demonstration of their magic. They had also seen Sirius Remus and Amelia perform various spells and charms, what had really excited them had been the magic that the little elf with large ears could perform to protect their master and mistress. Richard was still just a little upset that his little princess had grown up and he had missed quite a lot of her life in the past few years, he was happy with her choice of husband, after getting to know Harry a little he did not think she could have done any better.

Albus Dumbledore was not at all happy as he went to bed that night, his trinkets were not working and he had not yet been able to think of any way to get the Potter boy once again under his control. He was also being haunted by the memory of being bested by a fifth year student in front of his minions, he swore he would do something to that bitch to show he was her superior as soon as he had rebound her magical core. His dreams were nightmares filled with the retribution that a free Harry Potter would capable of if he discovered that Albus had harmed the Granger girl.


	7. Chapter 7

4

Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books

Chapter Seven.

Slowly with help from the Goblins Hermione began to whittle away at Dumbledore's reputation. She started off by sending a letter to Rita Skeeter telling her that due to Dumbledore's constant meddling in his life, and the suffering it caused, the boy who lived was leaving the magical world.

Next followed a letter about Dumbledore's involvement in the illegal imprisonment of Lord Sirius Black. Done simply because Lord Black was Harry Potter's godfather and legal guardian. a position that Dumbledore had usurped. She told how the old man could not accept Sirius looking after the young Potter heir and giving him a decent life because he wanted complete control over the Potter fortune himself.

Rita received four more letters, each one covered Harry Potters years at Hogwarts and the things that had happened to Harry due to the old man's manipulations. The first told of the Troll let into the school by Voldemort possessed Quirrell, and what had happened that year. The second letter told all about their second year and the basilisk. Each of the letters arrived with small memory vials which showed just what Harry Potter had suffered at Hogwarts.

Hermione also sent Rita information she had from the Goblins, things like the fact that Dumbledore was pocketing the pay that should have gone to professor Binn's remaining relatives. Dumbledore found that the prophet was revealing things about his miss handling of Hogwarts funds as well as helping himself to some of the Potter inheritance, he had thought no one would ever know of such things. Many of his financial double dealings over the past hundred years were revealed day by day and the old man could not discover who was passing the information to the news paper because he was now their main subject, which caused him to be mobbed by unhappy crowds each time he left the castle.

The biggest hit that the old man took and the one that got him fired from all his positions was the release of the Snape interrogation. Severus Snape had revealed Dumbledore's goal of eventually owning Hogwarts and all the surrounding land, which had belonged to the Gryffindor/Potter family for generations. The public were quick to pick up that Dumbledore had being trying to get rid of the Gryffindor/Potter family by killing Harry Potter, their national hero, and the last of the Potter family. People were beginning to wonder if Dumbledore had set up the previous Lord and Lady Potter to die at Voldemort's hands and pretty quickly the rumour that he was responsible for the murder of James and Lily Potter spread and became the accepted truth.

Having been fired from Hogwarts by the board of governors Albus Dumbledore found it was not safe for him anywhere in the wizarding world he had formed and guided for so long. All the antagonism and hostility he had fostered while headmaster of Hogwarts all seemed to be focused on him where ever he went. He was run out of Diagon Alley as he tried to make his way to Gringotts, getting rather desperate for money he attempted to visit Aberforth Dumbledore in Hogsmeade, but was once again face to face with an angry mob. He was truly shocked when he saw that it was his most faithful friend that was leading the villagers against him. Minerva McGonagall had finally seen the true manipulative man that her old friend had become and was furious with him. Quite a lot of the anger had been toward herself for how she had fallen for his lies and half truths.

With nowhere left to go Dumbledore was forced to return to the Dumbledore family home, which was a small three bedroom house just outside the village of Godrics Hollow. No one had lived in the house for over fifty years. The house was in a truly bad condition with only one room left usable. Placing his few possessions in that room Albus Dumbledore once revered as the greatest wizard alive fell to his knees and wept about his misfortune… It was in this position that he was found and arrested by a group of angry Auror's led by Amelia Bones.

It had taken decades for Dumbledore to build his reputation, and Hermione destroyed it in less than two months. Both Potters were rather surprised when Aberforth Dumbledore was arrested and quickly revealed as Dumbledore's lover and current conspirator the former dark lord Grindelwald. The evil man who had once disguised him self as a Muggle by the name of Adolf Hitler and had become an evil dictator who had led the world into war. It was also revealed in Snape's notes that Dumbledore knew of the pureblood plans for a future where they were rulers of the magical world, he knew that they planned to use his and Grindelwald's plans to wipe out the infestation of Muggleborns in the magical world.

During his questioning under a truth serum Grindelwald revealed that the body discovered and proclaimed as being that of Hitler was a simple Muggle who had been killed and changed by Dumbledore so that his lover could escape justice. Dumbledore had also killed his own brother so that Grindelwald could take his place. The disguise had worked well for over fifty years and they had come to believe that they would never be caught.

By the time the first of September came around Albus Dumbledore was a complete outcast from the magical world. His crimes were known world wide and the public outcry made sure he and his lover had ended up spending their remaining years deep in the dungeons of Azkaban, never again getting to see each other. Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix did not get away scott free either. Their part in the illegal incarceration, and mental abuse of Harry Potter as he grew up was revealed through the Quibbler news paper. Their part in what Dumbledore had done to the Potter family was quickly revealed and became well known, as were all their names. Minerva McGonagall lost her positions as both Deputy Head and head of house, she was demoted to being an ordinary teacher, while Pomona Sprout was promoted to deputy head and Professor Sinistra was promoted to head of Gryffindor house. The new headmaster was professor Flitwick who had done all he could to support the student population of the school during his time there as a professor.

When it was revealed, Voldemort's return and subsequent death at the hands of Harry Potter, received an odd and unexpected reaction from the public. It was almost as if it was expected, as if it was a forgone conclusion that any rising dark lord would be disposed of by Harry Potter, the boy who lived. None of the huge celebrations that had taken place after Voldemort's first defeat, were repeated, instead life went on almost as usual in the magical world. Both Harry and Hermione were given guarantees that as they both reached their legal majority they would both be able to take up the Gryffindor and Potter seats in the Wizengamot. Something that they both looked forward too, as they had some plans to bring serious changes to the magical world.

The two young Potters with the help of the four adults that they trusted talked it over and after a lot of debate decided to leave the magical schooling behind and take up their Muggle education. Richard hired several people who were well qualified to bring the teens up to date on what they had missed over the four years at Hogwarts. The teens knew it was going to take time but they were not concerned about it. They had each other, four adults they could trust and enough money to do what ever they wished for the rest of their lives. Several tutors were enlisted to help Remus and Sirius teach the two teens all the magic they would need to know to become fully trained in the magical arts. Their schooling and training was all carried out at the Potter castle which they travelled to daily. It was a place they both loved but it was also far too big for the small family to live in in comfort. Together they chose to live in the old Evans house once it was redecorated and all the repairs were carried out.

Being home schooled Hermione rediscovered her delight in learning English and arithmetic even deciding to take an advanced course that led both teens to enter the local university. Harry also rediscovered his enthusiasm for learning, which he had lost thanks to his cousin Dudley and his association with Ron Weasley.

It was two very excited young Potters who with the help of their family set about furnishing the house in Oxford. With the help of Helen and Richard each room in the new Potter home was decorated and fitted with brand new furniture according to Hermione's meticulous planning. The house was made into a comfortable home with every thing up to date including all the modern electronics that were now being used by teens through out the country.

Some years later after finishing their Muggle education with degrees from university Harry turned his hand to farming and very quickly discovered it was a way of life that both he and his wife truly enjoyed. During her spare time between taking care of her husband and their four children and helping out on the farm that they had bought Hermione tried writing as a hobby. She was quite pleasantly surprised when her first book about a young wizard and his little elf friend became a best seller, it was acclaimed by children and adults alike and led her to write several more books. All of which did quite well and gave her a reputation as a great writer of children's books, she was famous in both the world of magic and the normal non magical world.

Once the two Potters joined the Wizengamot they became formidable opponents of the traditionalists using what Dumbledore had done to try and retain the old traditions, and just how bad things had turned out because of his willingness to forgive members of old families no matter what their crimes. They worked hard to bring about some much needed changes in the magical world of Britain. Between them they did not allow people to forget what the war with Voldemort had cost in the lives of both muggleborn and the old families. There were quite a number of the old and not so old laws that were either thrown out or changed radically.

As their children grew Harry taught them about the world of magic, he told them tales of what he and their mum had done when they were young. He found it odd that none of his children wanted to go to Hogwarts or even visit Diagon Alley, they much preferred living in the none magical world with their parents where they could enjoy their computers and other electronics and learn their magic from their mum and dad. Two days after her fiftieth birthday Hermione was elected as the chief witch of a Wizengamot that was far different to how it had been when she first entered to take up the Potter seat. Harry's only real interest in politics was in helping his wife with the changes they wanted. He still attended each meeting and always cast the Gryffindor vote in support of what his wife was doing.

The two Potters were well into their nineties before Harry decided to retire from farming. He had taught his sons and grandsons all he had learned about farming and was happy to allow them to take over the running of the farm while he and Dobby quite happily pottered about in his well kept garden.

A little after Harry's 100th birthday he and Hermione were dragged out of their retirement, enlisted by their grandson to help take down a powerful want to be dark lord by the name of Scorpius Malfoy. The two Potters took just two weeks to track down and put an end to the new dark lord and his followers.

Instead of going back into retirement the two Potters bought a shop and set up a business buying and selling rare books. They worked in and expanded that business until 159 year old Hermione fell seriously ill. With his wife close to death Harry also became ill. They both died on the same day at the same time while holding each other. As they had been together in life, so they were in death. The Gryffindor Potter family was a large congregation for the church at Godrics Hollow on the day they laid Harry and Hermione to rest next to their parents. James and Lily on one side and Richard and Helen on the other.

Sixty two years after their deaths a new Gryffindor Potter was born, the following morning found in his crib along side him was a fabled sword, the words Excalibur, Pendragon, Gryffindor were engraved in the metal of the blade…

The end?


End file.
